Awake

Irony Alert: Disney is Chief Corporate Evangelist for Civil Religion

Maybe you knew this already, but it was news to me. Civil religion has a corporate sponsor and it's none other than the guys who brought you "The Happiest Place On Earth™": Disney.

I knew that Disney seems to pride itself on its uncanny ability to infuse nice thick gooey layers of contrived spirituality and "good feeling" to its various products and services, but what I didn't know was they were offering a bible study guide free with advanced ticket purchase!!! Read on:

In the new film, Disney says Schwartzberg has tried to capture "both the unparalleled beauty of the land and the incomparable spirit of the people".

Indeed, Disney is being anything but bashful about the spiritual aspects of the film. Telephone callers to its advance ticket sales office may order a free bible study guide designed to go with the film. [emphasis mine]

From Disney unleashes a star-spangled riposte to Moore

Now civil religion is a deeply rooted tradition in this country, fooling, I daresay, millions into believing that the United States of America is a Christian nation-state. Rubbish. The United States is no more a "Christian nation" than Disneyland a place free of petty larcenists who steal strollers from tourists whilst they meander around Tom Sawyer's Island on a steamboat!

But what really gets under my skin about civil religion is that its spokespersons and representatives target an audience of family-lovin', flag waving, parade-going, politically conservative Christians. Who cares? Well, this just happens to describe the vast majority of my extended family members as well as a large section of my local church. Though I do not always agree with them, these are people that I love.

I am furious that this feel-good message of the "American Spirit" be sold with a bible study to an audience of people who have done nothing more than despise the attitudes, opinions, and creative works of one Michael Moore. A group of people that are more than likely a most attentive audience to the speeches, soundbites, and feature length presentations of civil religion's most fiercest allies. And who are these allies? Presidents, presidential speechwriters, and now, a major corporate controller of the media whose primary audience are family-lovin', flag waving, parade-going, politically conservative Christians. Or at least people who say they are.

This news story is comparable in irony to the movie trailer for The Polar Express. The trailer tells a story of a little boy who hops a magic train to the North Pole and Santa Clause to discover the "true" spirit of Christmas (which apparently is in the form a sleigh bell) and (here's the kicker) all against a musical backdrop of a song featuring the word, "Hallelujah," sung jubiliantly by what sounds very much like a gospel choir. Mmm. Hallelujah. Santa Claus. Hallelujah. Christmas spirit. Huh? Now that's mixed up. But that's what civil religion is all about: mixing it up.

Hmmm. Somthing's amiss.